LAST WEEK ON RUCKUS:
Both The Champ Mason "Razorblade" Savage and the #1 contender Nazir el-Fadal swore to win tonight's main event with the 13 Pounds of Gold on the line
The Revenant celebrated another successful defense of the GRPL+ World Television title
The International Workrate Consortium failed to take the Unified World Tag Team championships from the Game Changers; when they beat on the champs, Katsuji Ootsuka and the Proper Villains came out to even the odds; the six of them will face off in a Ambassadors Trios championships match tonight
We got the usual open but once we got inside Epic Studios the fans were already dialed up to 11 as red, white and blue pyro exploded on the stage. That’s a sold out crowd with plenty of signs and Steve & Starr marveled over the frenzied crowd before letting them take over with “Queue Cee Dub!” chants for about 15 seconds. Steve said it was going to be a crazy night on this limited commercial interruptions edition of Ruckus, and Starr said he couldn’t wait. Without further ado, they turned proceedings over to Duck, who intro’d the opening fight…
| • "Tiki God" Al Buffett (w/Ashley "THEE Influencer" Szabo) d. "The Voice of Freedom" Drake Tremble (w/the Red, White and True) • | The first thing on the show was Tremble and his boys getting booed damn near out of the Studios; between his attitudes and literal flag waving on the way to the ring it just cued things up even more for Al and by extension to get showered in cheers as they came out. GRPL+ Helpfully Reminded Us That Last Week the Consortium put a beating on them both during and after the match so Al wasn't at full strength.
Buffett might be the strongest pound for pound wrestler on the roster, however, and eventually got to show that off in this bout. Unfortunately for the Tiki God, it was an inauspicious beginning for him; Tremble either jumped him right before or right at the bell then followed it up with stomps and falling forearm shots. Over the opening minutes of the fight a pattern began to emerge: Tremble doing some BS to stay ahead -> Al getting a little daylight -> more Tremble BS.
Ashley spent most of the match trading words with Bash and Holland around the corner from her on the outside but she didn't start getting bleeped until they started landing cheap shots behind the ref's back in support of Tremble. Fed up with an either ineffectual or blind zebra, after the boys pulled it again, Ashley politely asked Duck to get up out of his seat. Once that happened, Ashley calmly headed in their direction and laid them TF out with the chair while the crowd roared and Tremble tossed Al aside.
Drake was in the ref's face asking for the DQ - the ref had to point out everything happening on the outside wasn't his problem, what was going on between the ropes was. Tremble had the reaction to that you might expect, then turned around to get snatched up in a Tiki-sized overhead belly to belly suplay. That started the slide towards defeat for the Voice of Freedom, as Al started to increase his lead and then took down Tremble with his signature Inner Strength; the trusty delayed avalanche urange securing the victory. ** ½
The ref and Ashley raised Al's hands and the Unified World Tag Team champions walked to the back leaving carnage in their wake much to the delight of the blokes and blokettes in the crowd. Announce put over the strong bounce back effort from the champs to kick off the first show in the UK.
After that, we got an OnlyFitness promo slash ad. The black hearted muscle mommies bragged about running the women's division and possibly not being done there, saying QCW should honestly be begging them to grab every title since they're comeback queens. Lolo bragged about being a 2x Women's World Champion and said next week she'd power down any woman fool enough to answer her open challenge (did Karyn and Scott exchange a glance in the background? YMMV). Karyn started talking about how great she looked with the Crush championship but the promo abruptly ended.
| • Jacques Krieger d. Nigel Belvedere • | The bell rang.
13 seconds later, it rang again.
There was a Roll of the Dice right before that second bell. DUD
They sang Krieger's name while he got his hand raised, and One Eye actually looked bemused before kinda/sorta doing a queen wave much to the delight of the fans. Krieger headed to the back after that with the crowd singing his name even louder than they were before while we went to a quick break.
The first piece of business that Ruckus picked up after commercials was a promo from "Dashing" Pierce Moore, who was sitting poolside somewhere far, far away from Norwich. Moore gave a small chuckle while he kicked his feet up onto a chair, and said there was just no way he was going to be in a country where he had more suits in his closet than most of the people in it had teeth, but he did want to pass on some news.
His winning streak has turned all the right heads and come next week he'll receive a shot at the TV title. Once he beats that black hatted freak down and acquires the gold, GRPL+ will have more Moore to look forward to as the Face of QCW reigns as champion. Moore let out a cackle, dropped his shades over his eyes, and went back to relaxing.
We went back to Duck Eko in the ring, who announced the next match as a showcase for the Catch Hell Wrestling League and the roof came off Epic, the crowd cheers for over a minute straight before briefly going into song and settling on a unified "Catch Hell! [👏👏] (repeat)" chant. Duck smiled and went back to work after that.
| • "Boundless” Ashok Banerjee d. "The Shame of Birmingham" Gerry Greene in a non-title match • | Greene's the heel here, a mid-level bad guy in a Guy Ritchie film. The crowd's love for CHWL's champion has been around for the past couple of years although he just won the belt for the first time on Boxing Day. Banerjee is the Happiest Warrior and a high flyer by way of contrast to his opponent.
Greene was as underhanded as they come, at one point even biting Banerjee instead of doing a lockup to start to get an advantage. Greene pressed the advantage and got a couple of near falls, including one off of a pop up headbutt that Greene was absolutely positive got him the fall, and he stayed in the zebra’s face after the 2 ¾. Banerjee crawled after Greene, who threw him across the ring just so he could further intimidate the ref. Ashok eventually got to his feet, and started going to work throwing hands to the delight of the crowd. “Ashok!” chants rang out all over Epic as the Catch Hell champ fought back. Greene thought he could stem the tide with an eye rake, but when he went into the ropes he suddenly found himself getting clotheslined over the top by a not-that-blinded Banerjee, who followed up with a double springboard plancha that set off phone cameras and had the announce marking out at the desk. When things were down and dirty early on it was clearly Greene’s game to lose, but when “Boundless” started to quicken the pace after his plancha, “the Shame of Birmingham” suddenly found himself living up to his moniker. Banerjee eventually won the fight by planting Greene with a rope hung swinging neckbreaker and then my new favorite move, the Decolonizer Driver - his brainbuster into the knee that flattened Greene. If we could have taken a look backstage I’m sure Drake Tremble would’ve punched through his straw boater. ***
Replays fired up, and the announce put over Catch Hell’s champ as he shook the referee’s hand and waved to the cheering Norwichians (?) chanting his name, but then there were a few gasps, and a few more, and then a sudden wave of cheers – to the shock of everyone, Scott Holmes walked out to the ring and extended a hand to Ashok, who was quick to accept it in kind to cheers. Holmes asked for a mic from Duck and got it, and was about to start a speech when the cheers turned into a “Thank you, Scotty!” chant that put a smile on the face of the Commissioner, one that turned into outright laughing when Banerjee put down his title and ran around the ring encouraging more chants from the fans.
Holmes eventually decided to talk through it, saying that action like we just got to see is part of why QCW & Catch Hell got into business together a couple years ago and have only grown bigger since. He wanted to be out here in person for two reasons, the first to thank all of QCW’s fans in the UK. He saw the e-mails, Tweets, DMs, and all the rest, and if they could have been here sooner they would have, but at least they finally made it to this side of the pond. That got another big wave of cheers, followed up with some “Queue Cee Dub!” chants.
The other involved Ashok, which is why he was out here now: this exhibition was an exhibition, sure – but it was a sign of what was to come. QCW & Catch Hell were also partnered internationally with the Evergreen Wrestling League in the US’ Pacific Northwest as well as Lucha Salvaje from the outskirts of Mexico City, and these four companies entered an agreement known as QWIC which fans of all four companies should expect to get to know pretty well in the coming weeks, months and hopefully years. Not only will you get to see some action from these other companies no matter which one you call your homebase, but next month QCW is going to put on Golden Rule and the main event of it will be a champion…
VS. champion…
VS. champion VS. champion UNIFICATION MATCH,
It took a few beats for that to settle in with the crowd, and then they took the roof off of Epic once again. “Holy shit!” chants were the order of the day for a solid half minute, before Holmes waved down the cheering and said he suspected he knew who Catch Hell was sending to Golden Rule, hilariously causing Banerjee to almost back up into a corner while the crowd regaled him with “Ashok!” chants. And if you didn’t already know about Evergreen or Salvaje’s champions, you’d get to know them over the course of the next month. Who QCW is going to send to the match he won’t know until the main event tonight is contested, so good luck to…both competitors? Sure, why not.
Holmes dropped the mic and shook hands with Ashok, then things eventually made their way over to the announce, who were just as stunned as anybody else. Eventually, they got themselves together, flipped out in a PG-13 way, then apologized for the brief commercial break they were going to have to take after Holmes just dropped maybe the biggest announcement in QCW history.
We came back from the break celebrating a moment from This Week In QCW History: on February 12th, 1983, "Cowboy" Jack Powers regained the belt from "The Communist Chainsaw" Dmitri Caviar (Pyotr's gran) to begin his final run with the QCW Championship.
We then got replays of Holmes’ announcement before we went to Duck in the ring for the first of the night’s three title matches.
| • the Revenant [c] d. "Big Tosser" Ian Cook to retain the GRPL+ World Television championship 4️⃣ • | Cook is one of Catch Hell's resident monsters, so you knew you were going to get a HOSS FIGHT in this one.
It took both of them a couple of minutes before someone left their feet and then the bombs started to go off. Almost every time Cook threw a massive right hand you could hear the impact and you don't need me to tell you about the Rev's resume.
In fact we didn't even get to the halfway point of the time limit before the Red Right Hand came into play - after a couple of big boots, the Rev managed to goozle the 350 pounder and plant him with a chokeslam that secured his title retention. **
Starr moved the clock to 11:54 while Steve put the Rev over as the most physically imposing TV Champ QCW has been blessed with so far. The crowd was celebrating the win as the Rev snarled and posed with the belt…and then suddenly he wasn't.
"Dashing" Pierce Moore had run in and hit the Rev with a Fresh To Death, then slapped his chest a few times while the crowd quickly pivoted from confusion to anger. Steve was left sputtering while Starr called Moore brilliant with his fake out tape earlier in the show; and now he dropped the Rev ahead of his title shot next week!
That's when the needle scratched, because the Revenant started regaining his bearings. Moore's response might have been cowardly, but it wasn't dumb - he dove between the ropes and spuh rin ted to the back before the Rev could get a red right hand on him. The Rev angrily barked for his belt and he started heading towards the back to chase Moore.
Announce sold even more shock about Moore's okeydoke and then plugged the TV title fight to come next week. But QCW isn't the only place featuring talented champions; as we heard Commissioner Holmes say a few minutes ago the QWIC Unified World Championship will be decided at Golden Rule. There will be more faces and a couple more titles on Ruckus, starting next week with this man.
That was the setup to throw to a stinger for Lucha Salvaje's campeon de mundo, a slightly stocky luchador with impeccable taste in suits known as El Vengador de Gente Jr. We got some highlights of him in Salvaje while he spoke (predominantly in Spanish with subtitles) about the proud tradition of Lucha Libre that ran through his veins; his father led the way there and was revered in Buenavista so Jr. knew this was his path from a young age and that he actually found it freeing because he always knew he'd be here between these ropes fighting the culeros of the world. Come Golden Rule, his family tradition, his title, his morals and his way of life go up against three other champions, and in Portland the world would find out what all his fans in Salvaje already knew: "Yo soy El Vengador de Gente JUNIOR, y mi palabra…es la ley."
Steve helpfully translated that in his eyes, his word was the law, but next week they wouldn't need to just do that – El Vengador de Gente Jr. would be in the Arena live next Friday night. But before that, we had to kick off tonight's double main event!
The lights went out, then Rammstein's Engel came on over the PA to make Epic Studios erupt in boos. Out marched the International Workrate Consortium in formation, Pyotr Caviar, Anton Stahl and Serge Batroc all with a share of the Ambassadors trios championships around their waists with the Wonderful Ward Brothers trailing behind them. The IWC took center ring and glared at the hard camera as the lights came up.
Their heads tilted up when another piece of music hit the PA, something new in terms of QCW but familiar to any middle aged punk lucky enough to get a seat – "Death Or Glory" by the Clash.
There were murmurs in the crowd, and then a small pop gradually grew as the challengers entered as a unit in their own right: Katsuji Ootsuka and the Proper Villains. They got greeted with a roar that almost took off the announcers eyebrows judging by their reaction to the crowd's reaction. Ootsuka, “the Fury” Jim Jaspers & “the Proper King” Richard Windsor wasted little time engaging in a six way stare down, right before they brought down the lights and focused a sole spotlight on the ring. It probably won't surprise you to find that the crowd was pretty heavily rooting for the challengers here.
| • Katsuji Ootsuka & the Proper Villains d. the International Workrate Consortium (w/the Wonderful Ward Brothers) to win the QCW Ambassadors Trios championships • | #ANDNEWWWWW!
Ootsuka and the Villains are your second Ambassadors titles holders after an absolute barnburner that came down to the last five minutes of the time limit. Things started off hot right from the opening bell, as Ootsuka got some temporary advantages flying around the ring wobbling Pyotr Caviar; however, the Tracksuit Tsar got the upper hand on the former World TV champion by absolutely flattening him out with a running crossbody off the ropes that had Ootsuka barely kicking out from under the 314 pounder. Caviar grabbed Katsuji’s limp body by the wrist and tagged out to Anton “Teknik” Stahl. Stahl slowed Ootsuka to a crawl, employing not only mat holds but laying in hard European uppercuts whenever Katsuji tried to get out from under.
At one point things got so bad for him that he was trying to fight his way out of the wrong corner, only to get dusted by a springboard Stahl European uppercut, then Stahl tagged back in Pyotr. They had the early control between them so much that Serge had to clear his throat and remind his charges who had the big C for captain on their trackjacket, and eventually the 2022 Duquesne Classic winner also showed off his skillset against an increasingly beaten down Ootsuka.
But when things started getting really dire for the Prince of Punishment, first Windsor and then Jaspers dove into the ring to make saves; Jaspers’ kicking the bridge out from under what appeared to be Serge’s winning Arc de Triomphe set off a Pier 6 brawl between both sides as the crowd erupted again. This looked like it was going to be the beginning of the end for the babyfaces, but this time Ootsuka was able to duck a Caviar crossbody and Serge was not, Caviar aghast at making his boss go splut. The Villains tossed Caviar from the ring and Jim went after him (and then Stahl) while in the ring Ootsuka crawled for the corner and tagged in Windsor.
Windsor might be seen as the other guy in the Villains but all his attributes max out against the men who turned their backs on him, and the Proper King immediately started laying in an absolute flurry of European uppercuts, the eleventh one off the ropes finally downing Serge. The crowd roared after Windsor did, and the Proper King fed off the reaction and tied Serge up in the ropes before laying in another flurry of European uppercuts. He went for a cover, Anton pulled him to the floor, and then Katsuji flew over the referee with a tope con hilo that put paid to Stahl and caused the crowd to roar.
Jaspers was losing the fight to Pyotr on the outside when he decided that the best course of action would be to rake Caviar’s eyes for almost a whole rodeo ride, and then slid into the ring to flee. The referee tried to get Old Jim out of there, and wasn’t too chuffed when Jim yelled at Pyotr to bring it on. A blinded Caviar stumbled into the ring, then lariated the air by where he had heard Jim’s voice – right where Windsor was shoving Serge from behind. The Villains and the referee didn’t get the sickle but Serge did, then Ootsuka took out Caviar with a basement rana driver. Ootsuka started using his feet to get Serge out of the ring as Anton came into the ring, whiffed a Eurocut, then found himself in a modified half nelson chokeout. Windsor threw Anton to the center where Jaspers capitalized with a Fury Road. With the crowd roaring and the referee trying to restore order, the Villains secured the belts off Windsor tagging in Jaspers before the King Lawn Darted Serge into Fury Road. Katsuji and Richard were on the lookout for the Wards while the ref made the call, and all Jason the Terrible could do on the outside was fume as the reign of the Consortium ended. *** ½
Bed. Lam.
I don’t think we actually heard the full announcement from Duck because the crowd was roaring so loud – Windsor tackled Jaspers with all the joy he could muster before letting out the scream of a man who spent the last two and a half years chasing a goal only to just now realize it, and Ootsuka got brought into the group hug that a smiling Jaspers didn’t feel too much like fending off tonight. They got their new titles and their hands raised to monster pops, then they all jumped the rail and partied in the crowd, all three men eventually taking offered beers from fans in the 7th row and cheersed their belts and brews before standing on chairs and having a pint, the “You Deserve It!’ chant almost rattling the hard camera. Kudos to the camera crew for panning out of the celebration to see Jason the Terrible face first against the apron as if some tragedy had happened, and Rich standing next to him not looking too enthused about this turn of events himself.
But this wasn’t an evening for the Wards, or for the fallen Consortium – it was for the new Ambassadors of QCW. The announce put over the title change and Windsor’s quixotic quest for gold finally ending after so long before the announce quickly hyped up two more title matches coming up on next week's show:
🌟 "Dashing" Pierce Moore looks to upend the roll that the Revenant has been on and take the GRPL+ World Television title as the Face of QCW, but you know the TV Champ is going to be out looking for revenge after what happened to him earlier 🌟
🌟 Lolo Vuitton is not only defending the QCW Women's World Championship, she's issued an open challenge…so who's going to answer? Certainly not Karyn, right? Right? 🌟
Duck let the pop for Prince & Proper (now that they’re champs, I assume some sort of name is coming, but who knows) die down before he revved everyone back up for a match you the QCW viewer might have a little passing interest in.
| | • the main event • | |
Cue Arcarsenal.
And on the heels of a monster heel pop, the Tron separated to bring in Nazir el-Fadal, who stood in front of it and peered out at the 60/40 negative reaction he was getting from the Brits.
I must have read a thousand faces!
I must have robbed them of their cause!
el-Fadal slowly came out in his usual gold on black, Crusazdo del Oro’s mask hanging from a chain around his neck. The twice and possibly future World Champion took a moment on the apron to peer out at the rowdy crowd before coming into the ring and hitting a Are You Not Entertained? Pose on the buckles to further bathe in and bubble up the split reaction. Naz had a small sneer on his face as he slowly put three fingers in the air – it was of course at that moment that “Unscripted Violence” came on over the PA and the reaction turned from dissent into unity.
Because here came The Champ.
Mason Savage came out to a reaction usually reserved for war heroes or Rihanna, but the crowd’s love for him didn’t keep him from his usual march to the ring. Savage came down to the ring, where surprisingly enough Naz was sitting on the middle rope waving him in. Savage scoffed, but then to the surprise of the announce took Naz up on it and entered the ring, el-Fadal almost mockingly ceding the center of the ring and before Duck could even make the intros both men were exchanging words that were I to guess weren’t friendly in the least. Naz hovered over Duck until he announced Naz, and despite Duck’s obvious lack of enthusiasm at least things didn’t get physical again. Naz stepped to the middle of the ring and again put three fingers up. Razorblade got introduced and stepped to Naz, holding up the Thirteen Pounds of Gold; Naz kept a laser focus on that and not Savage or his words.
The lights came up and the bell rang. Neither man moved while the crowd roared down cheers and eventually fired up a “This Is Awesome!” chant before anything had even begun. Both challenger and champion looked around Epic, neither man giving away anything or an inch of ground.
Then Naz slapped Savage.
The crowd oohed, aahed, and booed as Savage checked his jaw, nodded a couple of times, and slapped Naz right back to a big pop.
Naz’s reaction?
Nodding and laughter, then Naz – of all things – offered a handshake. Savage looked at him, scoffed, then took it. They shook hands. They actually shook hands.
About three seconds after that is when the hockey fight started.
| • Mason "Razorblade" Savage [c] d. Nazir el-Fadal to retain the QCW World Heavyweight Champion • | You had to suspect when they announced this one that it was a thinly veiled excuse to give the UK fans a PPV-level main on regular TV, and they sure as hell got it here.
Razorblade won the hockey fight and put Naz on his ass, but when he went in to follow up Naz shot out his right leg to undercut Razor’s left leg, then when Savage was falling towards the canvas put out his left knee so The Champ would bounce off of it. Savage was down in a heap and el-Fadal capitalized, focusing his attack on the leg of Razorblade. Starr noted on commentary Naz had dropped nearly a dozen pounds since the match was announced in order to outquick Razorblade and the strategy paid off early as el-Fadal worked over the leg with shinbreakers and stomps.
Naz turned things up after a Razorblade rally with a vicious Saito suplex that got him a solid 2 ½. The One Man Jihad turned up his sadism even more, at points grinding Razorblade’s knee into the mat with both of his points for as long as he could get away with in a five count without getting DQed for it. Razorblade’s leg started to show wear and tear; even though he landed safely on his feet later in the match after leapfrogging Naz, he barely did so, and even worse Naz used that momentum to come off the ropes with a chop block to level him out. el-Fadal appeared to possibly be going for the Black Lotus cobra clutch STF but Razorblade managed to crawl for and get the ropes before he could lock the hold down.
The Champ showed why he was The Champ by turning defense into offense, first using the rope break to pull Naz between the ropes to the apron. El-fadal landed safely but left himself open to a series of Razorblade headbutts to the breadbasket, and then Savage surprised everyone by executing a sunset flip powerbomb off the apron that splattered Naz into the barricade to a massive pop and eventually “Holy shit!” chants from the UK faithful. Replays fired off as Savage rolled into the ring and Naz slumped down to the floor, but it was Savage who actually cut the ref’s count off at 8 so he could bring Naz in and try to end things the right way - he got a 2 ½ of his own there.
Savage kept up the offensive and worked on putting Naz out, at one point catching the former champ with an enzui lariat that sent him to his knees and pinned him, but Naz grabbed the bottom rope before a count could get made. Mason kept up the good work and eventually looked like he was about to polish Naz off with the Soul Crusher, only for a frantic Naz to fight his way out of it and then land a series of back elbows that sent Mason careening to the mat. Naz came down from the ropes and waited in the corner before lashing out with his Sudden Death signature (a Sling Blade Flatliner) that got him 2 ¾. Pissed, Naz started slamming Savage’s left knee into the mat repeatedly, then tried to lock on the Black Lotus once again.
This time Savage was the one throwing back elbows, and Naz eventually was fended off. Then The Champ limped up behind el-Fadal and quickly shot him into the corner with a snap German that crumpled up the smaller man once again. Savage quickly capitalized on shifting the momentum and even not at full speed followed up with a cannonball that further crumpled el-Fadal, and the Champ started to take over from there. At one point it looked like Naz was going to have a last stand when he caught an attempted kick to the gut, but Razorblade used his good leg to blast Naz with an enzuigiri then followed it up with a double underhook DDT that Naz barely shouldered out of at 2.9. He wasn’t quite done fighting, but he would be after Savage managed to get him into position and floor him with a Soul Crusher. Naz tried to flop out of the ring but Savage legpicked him and pulled him back to center, covering him for the title retention. ****
The crowd ovated huge as Savage slowly drew himself up, while we at home got replays of some of the hard hitting action. Savage took his gold and smacktalked Naz a bit after getting his hand raised, the zebra eventually sort of helping lead him to the back before he could do any further damage to Naz. Eventually, Savage stood at the apex of the ramp and raised Lucky 13 overhead, and that’s when the crowd’s noise turned from cheers to concerned murmuring, because someone was coming up behind Razorblade.
Who emerged was Super Avión, and as it turned out he might not have even known Savage was there.
Making his first appearance since Naz laid him out at Cold As Hell, the luchadore marched down to the ring just as Naz was trying to recover and had gotten to his knees. The moment Naz realized who was in front of him was the moment he got kicked in the face, and Avión sat on Naz’s chest and grounded and pounded him before leaping to his feet with a bellow that got a good roar out of the crowd, a roar that only increased when Avión snatched Naz up and threw him into the ringpost.
Not content there, Avión went to the outside of the ring, where Duck (maybe Starr) definitely didn’t yell out to grab a chair. Avion laid in a few more punches to Naz, then dragged him nice and close to the ringpost. Avión picked up the chair and swung it like Aaron Judge, Naz’s head the unwitting meat in a steel sandwich thanks to the ringpost. The crowd popped huge while a bleeding Naz fell to the floor unmoving, and a psyched up Avión spiked the chair into the mat while the broadcast showed Naz bleeding from the forehead. Avion stood up on the announce table and waved on the cheers from the crowd while the announce sold his shocking return and next week’s return to the Arena before things faded to black after this Bloody Good showing.
